Day 50. Saturday. Starting to unlock.
Daily life is much as it was last week, so I haven't been blogging about it. I sometimes forget to wipe the doorknobs and such in the morning. We do still have plenty of disinfectant (we don't drink the stuff), but some of our bottles of liquid soap are running out. A friend of my wife's has given us some colourful masks.
The numbers are not as good as I'd like to see, given that restrictions on movement and activity are starting to ease in some places. Neither the US nor UK is reducing its infection rate or death rate; they are staying roughly stable, which presumably means that medical staff are still over-stressed ... except for (in the US) those who have been sent home because their specialties are not in demand at present. Seriously?
I also read that it is politically difficult to make sensible decisions about who has priority for the use of scarce equipment etc., and no, I do not think such difficulty is unique to the nation from which the article is written. Now, these decisions do have to be political, which means they have to be made with an eye to protecting the government's popular legitimacy, so it makes little sense to blame politicians for them (and the author was not doing so, but others will). "The fault, dear Brutus, ...." While I've written above that certain leaders have a lot to answer for -- and they still do -- the ultimate responsibility falls on those who elected them.
To underline this point, we have seen that Australia, New Zealand, and Iceland are well on their ways to eradicating the virus, the only trouble being that the rest of the world will keep sending it back to them. Being surrounded by ocean is one thing they have in common, but another is that they have governments that are glad to follow the advice of their scientific and medical establishments and adopt realistic policies. (As before, don't even ask about Brazil. Instead, look at the numbers.)
I still see the usual articles blaming the US FDA for delays in approving this, that, and the other. Gadflies have their uses, but some of the blame is undeserved; already people have been found trying to sell fake tests or treatments -- weeks ago, in fact -- and it is worth putting some obstacles in their way. Which reminds me: I am still waiting to hear of any cases being cured or prevented by so-called alternative medicine.
The numbers are not as good as I'd like to see, given that restrictions on movement and activity are starting to ease in some places. Neither the US nor UK is reducing its infection rate or death rate; they are staying roughly stable, which presumably means that medical staff are still over-stressed ... except for (in the US) those who have been sent home because their specialties are not in demand at present. Seriously?
I also read that it is politically difficult to make sensible decisions about who has priority for the use of scarce equipment etc., and no, I do not think such difficulty is unique to the nation from which the article is written. Now, these decisions do have to be political, which means they have to be made with an eye to protecting the government's popular legitimacy, so it makes little sense to blame politicians for them (and the author was not doing so, but others will). "The fault, dear Brutus, ...." While I've written above that certain leaders have a lot to answer for -- and they still do -- the ultimate responsibility falls on those who elected them.
To underline this point, we have seen that Australia, New Zealand, and Iceland are well on their ways to eradicating the virus, the only trouble being that the rest of the world will keep sending it back to them. Being surrounded by ocean is one thing they have in common, but another is that they have governments that are glad to follow the advice of their scientific and medical establishments and adopt realistic policies. (As before, don't even ask about Brazil. Instead, look at the numbers.)
I still see the usual articles blaming the US FDA for delays in approving this, that, and the other. Gadflies have their uses, but some of the blame is undeserved; already people have been found trying to sell fake tests or treatments -- weeks ago, in fact -- and it is worth putting some obstacles in their way. Which reminds me: I am still waiting to hear of any cases being cured or prevented by so-called alternative medicine.
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